Everything smoking...meat smoking !! Tips, tricks, and recipes + (poll added)

I wouldn’t treat it any differently than other “smokable” beef. Meaning I would never smoke anything but a brisket, tenderloin, or tomahawk (reverse sear method). Coarse salt, a little finely ground black pepper. Maybe some compound butter to top with (if necessary). Let it sit for 30 min prior to grilling/ smoking / whatever your heat source.

A big tenderloin (for filets) I’d smoke (reverse sear) til about 120°-130° internal depending on shape uniformity and who I’m serving. Then put it on a preheated 500° grille (not griddle) for 2-3min per side. You’ll likely have the best steaks you’ve ever had in your life, especially if wagyu is your jam.

The only downside is you won’t order steaks anymore when you go out. I don’t. Even real steakhouses don’t come close. (Ruth’s Chris is the Cheesecake Factory of steakhouses, bee tee dubs).

 

Did a wagyu brisket a couple of months ago and a wagyu chuck roast. Did them the same as a non wagyu cut and they turned out great.

 

Thanks. That's my standard method - course salt, pepper, a little garlic. 127 degrees then reverse sear, wrap, and rest. Reverse sear changed my life!

I wouldn't say wagyu is my jam - not yet anyways, I just got lucky and had the opportunity to get some straight form the herd recently. Tri-tip and burgers are really my thing. I still love steak, I'm just better at tri-tip and it will feed my kiddos for a couple of meals if I do it right. Well, it used to feed them a couple of meals but they are voracious whenever I cook it now. We usually get tri tip tacos the night after but I sometimes have to stretch it a little.

Brisket is my real worry. I'm terrible at it. I've tried four or five different methods, some off the inter webs, some from the likes of Traeger, some from folks I know; all of them put me squarely in the mediocre category - good and edible, but not great. There was a BBQ restaurant open for about a year right down the street from me that had the BEST brisket I've ever had in my life. I'm pretty sure they used cocaine as a dry rub because I could eat myself to death on their brisket.

My last attempt was better, but not great. I did a better job trimming the flat but prolly took off too much fat from the point. I also think I wrapped it a little late for the final stretch. They always turn out a little dry and a little heavy. So I'm working on that.

I've found that 203* final temp on anything is WAY overdone. I usually pull my pork butt/picnic roast at 187 and it's perfect - half of it is just sliceable and the other half is shreddable, but all of it retains enough moisture that leftovers don't turn in to a haystack. I'm at 4500' elevation so I'm guessing that has a lot to do with the temperature discrepancy.

Please critique my method but it's basically this: trim fairly aggressively, including a lot of the fat cap; kosher salt, pepper, sometimes slathered in mustard to help the rub stick, let rest on the counter for 30 minutes to an hour; smoke at 215* (225 cooks fast - may be the smoker, may be the altitude but 215 seems to work much better..) until I hit the stall around 160/170; push through the stall until temps start to move again; pull and wrap in foil (might try butcher paper but since my briskets turn out a little dry I try to catch/retain as much moisture as possible); place back on smoker still at 215 until internal temp reaches 187 (again, I've run it all they way up to 203 and it was basically jerky at that point); remove some smoker, toss in cooler for 30 minutes to 2 hours; cut and eat.

 

@blenton Looks good to me. I’d say altitude is definitely contributing to your temp changes. Try your pork shoulder to 193° (10° difference since that’s the change of your unit temp settings). Obviously pork shoulder is less work and cheaper to test then try it on the brisket.
Wrap the meat in paper or foil, then a towel in the cooler. Your times are good there.

another thing to try is to get your smoker to temp and then cover the grate with some old cheap wonder bread to get where your hot spots are.

I’ve been using “MEATER” thermometers and they’ll give some vastly different ambient temps than what I’ve got my smoker “set” to.

 

I don’t play with brisket for some of the same reasons mentioned.
We usually wet brine our pork but with salt paprika and garlic powder, then jab with a knife all over and put garlic cloves into the holes(those garlic nuggets are soooo good)
I don’t wrap, and I take it to 199-200IT


A water bath is KEY!!!! It helps convection and regulates temperature in the cabinet

 

I'm wondering if it would work better to wrap the brisket as I hit the stall, rather than after I've pushed through.

Thanks for the wonder bread tip. My wife might think I've lost my marbles if I bring home a loaf of it, though. Haha. I've done something similar, but with burger patties... But the wonderbread will prolly work better.

Yum. We stuffed garlic in a pork loin a couple of times - turned out amazing one time and just ok the other time. I'm sure the chef was the problem.

My pork shoulder usually gets more seasoning than tri tip or beef - salt, pepper, garlic, onion, paprika (Hungarian until we run out..), red pepper, chili powder, and a touch of white pepper or cayenne. Some folks like a lot of red seasoning, but I use it sparingly; I once had some ribs at a reputable bbq joint that tasted like nothing but chili powder. I've had a bit of an aversion to it since. And wet brining is definitely better. I don't wrap the picnic roast either; I like the bark.

 

Also, and I’ve said this a bunch too - trust the internal temp thermometers. Whichever ones you use.


What that additionally means is KEEP YOUR LID/RIG/Whatever CLOSED until an actual action event. Stop checking on it, spritzing it, adding whatever. Keep it shut. That’s the best way to lock in moisture.

also fat side up. Always. Moisture won’t “evaporate” through a fat cap. And your fat cap doesn’t “trickle down into the meat” despite what the internet says. Likewise, fat won’t “evaporate up” into the meat either.

 

Had a bbq champ tell me he pulls his briskets at ~175-180* and then wraps and rests. Changed my brisket game doing that. I don’t know where this 203* came from but all mine turned out like crap at that temp.

I started doing chuck roasts instead of briskets. Smaller, cooks the same, tastes the same, cheaper, and way less work.

 

Yes. The stall is happening because the meat is “sweating” and trying to cool itself off.

(This is another reason for fat side up) and why I use a hydrophobic binder (olive or avocado oil) instead of mustard.

Pull at 197-200. Never below or above. The wrap and resting will still cook the meat some and give you some temp fluctuations /increase.
Also watch for a second stall. If you have a steady rise in temps and then it just won’t budge at 195 for more than 10-15 min, pull it off. It’s done.

 

That second stall is what clued me in to pulling around 187 instead of 200ish. 184-187 is usually where that second stall hits.

 

Yeah crazy how much altitude changes things

 

The only thing I can offer is the it cooks a little faster than your normal (choice,select,etc.) meats do...

 

So here's the proper way to tell when your meat is done ... First of all lets make sure our temp probes (instant read, chamber, meat) are calibrated and reading properly.. Hold the tips of the probes in boiling water, without touching sides or bottom, It should read whatever temps water boils at at your elevation... 212 degrees for me ...

Temp is only a tool to tell you when to start checking for doneness... For my briskets and butts I start checking for "probe tender" at 195 IT .. Probe tender is when there is no resistance when sticking your instant read probe in (or a skewer or the like)... Probe it in all different places.. When it slides in and out like sticking a probe/skewer into peanut butter... , It's done... This can happen at 195 IT... it might take it until 210 before it's done.. It's done when it's done..

The biggest reason why meats are dry is from being UNDERCOOKED... Not overcooked as most people think.. Fat does not start rendering down (melting) until it reaches a temp of 175/180 degrees... The fat rendering is what you want so it will rehydrate the meat... Meaning make it juicy ... Cooler resting (1+ hours) is a must.. The fat keeps rendering done during the rest...

Myself... I don't trim any... More fat to render down for meat to absorb ... Trim the fat off when slicing if you don't want it ...

 

Pork shoulder with a side of T.I.T.S.

 

I guess here’s a good place to endorse “Meater” thermometers

 

Prob a good group to appreciate this as well...

 

Gotta live out of the trailer for a few days finishing up a job. Decided a smoke tri-tip would make for good foodstuffs while I'm working. I might even be nice and leave some for the kids..


Prepped



Smoked and Reverse Seared



Resting before I toss it in the fridge

 

I put two 8 lb pork shoulders on last night around midnight for a holiday party I'm hosting this weekend. This is how they looked when I woke up this morning. Still a long time to go.
I typically smoke the day of an event but I can't this time and I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to reheat a large amount of meat without drying it out.

 

I do it in a crockpot. Add a little sauce of your choice, not so much for flavor but to keep it moist.

 

¼ can of macro/crapco beer works too.

Plus, you get to delete a beer.

 

Follow up post: the tri tip does not disappoint.

Left side - sammich for a late lunch. Right side - tacos for later tonight.

 

If it's still whole (not pulled), wrap in foil and in the oven at 250 for an hour or so... If already pulled, put in big foil pan with some kind of liquid, cover with foil and in the oven at 250 for an hour or so...

You can also put it (whole or pulled) in vac seal bags and sous vide it at 160 for a couple of 3 hours. ..

 

Standing Rib Roast on sale this week at Winn Dixie for $6.99 lb... At Publix for $7.99 lb... Food lion $6.99 lb .. Kroger $6.97 lb ... Get the whole roast, cut off the ribs leaving some meat on them to smoke... Slice the rest into 1 1/2" steaks... vacuum seal and freeze...

 

A little Christmas pork with the MEATER my father in law sent me.. Yep, I opened the lid just to show you guys half way through the cook. It will survive. My kids have done worse.. ha.

I typically don’t wrap a pork shoulder because I love the bark and there’s usually plenty of fat to keep it from drying out. I might try to wrap this one.

 

Working on a prime rib.

 

@blenton don’t wrap the pork butt. It’ll make the bark soggy. I use a TempSpike and take them to 200.

Christmas prime rib. 2 hours to go.

 

Guess it’s coming out of the wrap. Haha. It’s just passing the stall so it worked as intended. I was worried about soggy bark… ew.

Last time I tried taking the pork butt to 200* it stalled around 195 again and dried out by 197. As far as I can tell, because the boiling point decreases with altitude, I need to decrease my finish temp by 10-12* else I drive all the moisture out. Water should boil around 202* for me.

 

As a somewhat older member that didn't grow up with cellphones and a propensity and urge to take pictures of everything around me, I do have to say I appreciate everyone who has contributed to this thread. I've been slowly reading through it and there's a lot of great info. Thanks all!

 

Fantastic.

 

NICE!! That looks even better than the one I did yesterday (granted, we did in the oven and not the smoker…). Temperature and finish, if I might ask?